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Secretaries and the Authorship of New Testament Epistles: Evaluating the Historical Method behind the Amanuensis Hypothesis.

The amanuensis hypothesis has long been a popular method of defending traditional authorship claims of disputed NT epistles. Scholars who espouse this view maintain that, in the Greco-Roman world, secretaries were afforded the freedom to (extensively) shape the letters they transcribed. As a result,...

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Published in:Catholic Biblical Quarterly Vol. 87; no. 3; pp. 502 - 521
Main Author: WILLIAMS, TRAVIS B.
Format: Article
Published: Catholic Biblical Association of America Jul2025
Subjects:
New Testament
Historiography
Authorship
Romans
Scholars
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        au: WILLIAMS, TRAVIS B.
      su:
        New Testament
        Historiography
        Authorship
        Romans
        Scholars
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        subj:
          New Testament
          Historiography
          Authorship
          Romans
          Scholars
      keyword:
        amanuensis
        Catholic Eepistles
        epistolography
        letter
        Pauline Epistles
        secretary
      ab: The amanuensis hypothesis has long been a popular method of defending traditional authorship claims of disputed NT epistles. Scholars who espouse this view maintain that, in the Greco-Roman world, secretaries were afforded the freedom to (extensively) shape the letters they transcribed. As a result, proponents contend that authenticity judgments cannot be based on the style or content of a given letter. While various objections have been leveled against the theory over the years, its methodological underpinnings have been largely overlooked. With a view toward the standard objectives and processes that define the historical method, I examine how the amanuensis hypothesis has been constructed. I seek to demonstrate the (methodological) fragility of the theory by focusing on its historiographic aims, argumentative logic, and evidential basis.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
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    language: English
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